gloss-mercuritte:

Under his blankets, Gloss snored loudly. That’s what alcohol did to him. But for his job last night, he needed all the drinks he could get his hands on. His sister’s voice traveled into his ear canal, and for moment, corresponded with his dream. He was dead. Yup, deader than a door nail. And his sister was asking if he was there?

He sat up suddenly when he heard the pounding on his door. He heard Cashmere’s voice again as he rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. His blonde hair was sticking up everywhere and he had dark circles underneath his droopy eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming..” He grumbled, tossing the blankets off of himself and heading to the door. In just a pair of boxers, the door opened and the light seeped in, tainting and burning his eyes. With one eye squinting open and the other closed, he mumbled something and motioned her in, where he retreated to his dark room and flopped over like free willy onto the bed.

“Hey Cash,” He said softly with a yawn, leaning his head against the wall. He ran a hand through his hair, ruggling it. His head was pounding. He felt like he had been to hell and back and he was sure he looked like it too. He needed a shower, shave and coffee..

His green eyes gazed over to the clock and realized it was dinner time, as he groaned. He repeatedly hit his head against the wall. He didn’t get in that morning until close to ten, so it wasn’t surprising that he had slept the day away, but boy, did it annoy him.

Of all people, he knew his sister would understand his pain of late nights for the work Snow had them doing. He played it off usually like he didn’t care, but when he got done with nights like that, he wished some would forget he even existed. He closed his eyes for a moment, but opened them quickly. Otherwise, he knew he would fall right back asleep. 

He rubbed his eyes the way a small child does when they are tired as he focuses back in on his sister’s visit to his room.

About to give up and walk away, Cashmere smiled when the bedroom door opened and her brother appeared. He looked a little less than camera-ready and her concern flared, hoping he hadn’t had a difficult night. “You look terrible,” she archly observed, her brow furrowing with old worry. He supposed he looked the way she felt.

Hounding her brother into his room, she didn’t bother turning on the light but kept the door open. He’d emerge from the cave soon, hopefully in a more appropriate state. They had an image to uphold, one of immaculate youth and grace under pressure.

Cashmere watched him flop onto his bed and chuckled despite herself. “When did you get in last night?” she asked him. She’d been gone most of the evening herself, but her brother hadn’t been there when she got back, some time past midnight. In a way it was better for her, able to cleanse herself of the night in privacy, but she missed the simple things like the company of family. There was only so much she could take alone, without her brother’s solidarity.

Perching on the end of his bed, she bit at her thumbnail until she remembered the way her stylist scolded her about the habit, slapping her hands and redoing Cashmere’s manicure, a process that took so long it was almost a punishment. Instead she rested her hands in her lap and looked at her brother.

(Source: -cashmere)

nickolas-beal:

“I’m fine. Really, I don’t think you have to worry about me. We all have our problems, right? But thank you. I do appreciate it.”

She was right. It wasn’t like a mysterious mentor was anything new. They all had secrets. Some of them worse than others, but they all had them, and Nick would be a hypocrite if he said he would be completely open about the skeletons in his closet. How could he expect Cashmere to open up? But still he couldn’t escape the feeling that something terrible was happening. Her unconvincing chuckle sold it for him: she was hiding something and he would find out what. “No, you’re right. I don’t have to worry about you. But hey, I do. And that isn’t going to change. Not for a long time. Because… you do something to me, and I don’t what but… Cash, I just want you to be safe.” He was rambling, he knew it. He could hear the words as they clumsily fell from his mouth, and it was all just so… true. True and honest. He had never been one for valuing honesty, it usually got people killed, but right now he had never been more pleased with himself. It was an odd sensation. 

Nick noted the strain in her voice, it was as though she was pleading for help while at the same time trying to block everything out. As though she was fighting some war with herself. He wanted to help but how? “Just let me know if there’s anything I can do,” he said, resigned. With his hand he brushed a stray lock of her golden hair from her face. “I’d hate to see your beauty go to waste.” With that, he kissed her cheek and hoped they would fix the elevator as soon as possible. He needed to escape this claustrophobic place, the strangling situation. He felt too much for Cashmere. Too much to be safe and secure in himself. Now he was as vulnerable as the rest by allowing himself the luxury of emotions. 

No, you’re right. I don’t have to worry about you. But hey, I do. And that isn’t going to change. Not for a long time.

There was nothing she could say to express her gratitude. So long as someone cared, or noticed, maybe she’d be okay. He didn’t know it but he was already helping, just by acknowledging that she wasn’t put together, or that she’d rebuilt herself wrong after the Arena. She was skewed in all the wrong places, she knew that, but the Capitol didn’t care so long as she was bright and beautiful and young.

…you do something to me, and I don’t what but… Cash, I just want you to be safe.

He was being much too kind to her, and for a blind moment Cashmere thought she could tell him everything, about her terror and her disgust, but what had been happening to her wouldn’t stop no matter who she told or what she did, and involving him when he probably had his own troubles - all victors did, they all suffered - would be selfish of her. She sighed and let her eyes drop to the elevator floor, wishing she could get away and be alone, even though that was the very last thing she truly wanted.

“I can take care of myself,” she said in an attempt at being reassuring, though she wasn’t totally sure who she was trying to reassure. “It’s not so bad, anyway. There are starving children in District 12, Nick. I’ve got it easy compared to them.” She tried to offer a smile, but her humour fell flat to her own ears. She was desperate to keep him at an emotional arm’s length, because physically they’d already been as close as two people could be and if she let herself she’d give him more than just one night.

Her resolve almost disappeared when he kissed her cheek and she spent a long minute wondering what it’d be like to just hug him and if she’d feel as protected as she thought she would. But the elevator jerked into life before she could decide whether or not finding out would be worth it. Their privacy was gone within moments as the automatic recall of the elevator brought it to the lobby where maintenance swarmed in to fix the problem. Cashmere got out of their way while they were distracted, ducking through the door the stairwell and fleeing up to the first floor, her heart beating uncomfortably fast.

(Source: -cashmere)

Cashmere sat at the dining table on the first floor, plucking summer fruits from a bowl in front of her, biting into the sweet flesh of strawberries and bursting blueberries with her teeth. She sat with her knees drawn up and her feet resting on the edge of her chair, flicking through a tabloid disinterestedly. She read some story about superstar Rona Gaines and her mystery beau but she mostly skimmed it, uncaring about Capitol celebrities and their lives. The victors and tributes usually got the most interest, especially when the Games were on, and Cashmere read the tabloids to keep track of who she was supposedly dating that week.

Cashmere absently twisted her fingers through her  hair, which was wet from having just gotten out of the shower. She was having a lazy, oddly restful day. After the stress of the Games and all the extracurricular work Snow had been giving her, she needed it.

Sheen and Tyler were either in their rooms or not even on their floor at all. If they knew what was good for them they’d be training, but Cashmere wasn’t too concerned with them. Their high scores from the Gamemakers afforded them a lot of freedom in Cashmere’s opinion, the chance to hopefully do something normal before their lives were to change. With a sigh she tossed the magazine onto the table, her thoughts now too focused on her tributes for comfort.

She stood up and knocked on both their doors but received no answer. On a whim she went to her brother’s door and rapped her knuckles hard against the wood. “Gloss!” she called, rolling her eyes. “Are you even in there?” She gave an irritated huff, not bothering to go into her brother’s room to check on his whereabouts. He always showed up eventually if she waited long enough.

ms-anniecresta:

For the longest time, probably a few hours or so, Annie had been sitting in the cafeteria all by herself, simply looking at everyone that passed her. How they walked, how their eyes wandered over the room looking for someone they knew, how they greeted each other with smiles. People would always fascinate her, especially because it had been so long since she had acted exactly like them. She could tell many of them had troubles of their own, but still they didn’t have the same curtain surrounding them, keeping them from being absolutely, and completely normal. Just the simple fact that Annie had been sat there for the past three hours, and she was so still and quiet that no one even noticed she was sitting there, proved to her that she was indeed cut off from the real world, hidden in her own mind.

Annie was having one of her good days. She had woken up having had no nightmares at all during the night, and just having woken up feeling light made this one of her good days. Even her green eyes seemed more alive than usual as she scanned the room. She was perfectly content just sitting there, looking at everyone in the cafeteria, taking in their faces. At the same time she couldn’t help but wonder what they were all thinking. If they were pretending to be alright, while they were really worried about something from the past, something from their present. Their eyes were what revealed them all, just as Annie’s eyes revealed if she was having a good day or not.

While lost in her thoughts, someone came and sat beside her, her blonde hair catching Annie’s attention, and she turned her head slowly to see Cashmere, the mentor of District 1. Annie had always been fascinated by this woman ever since she first laid eyes on her. Cashmere was strong-minded, but she was controlled by the Capitol, just like so many others who had been part of the Games. In many ways, the blonde was in the same position Finnick was, being sold by the Capitol for their entertainment. Annie knew little of what really happened when Finnick was ‘working’, and she didn’t particularly want to know the details either, she only knew it was bad.

“Eating alone?”

Annie smiled as Cashmere nudged her, and nodded, her green eyes filled with an intensity they rarely had. “I ate a few hours ago, and I’ve just been sitting here,” she said, her voice as soft as velvet as she spoke. “How are you, Cashmere? I haven’t seen you in a while?” she asked, a smile turning the corners of her lips.

It was a welcome thing to see Annie’s smile, like a rare bird of flight that could take off on into the air any second. Cashmere smiled and lolled comfortably in her chair, not bothered to maintain her typical facade here in the cafeteria. This was the place where only tributes and mentors really set foot; and on occasion Peacekeepers, but they weren’t there for anything other than security measures. Cashmere didn’t have to be on edge.

She mulled over Annie’s response for a long moment, just looking at the dark-haired woman. Why she’d want to sit here alone for hours was beyond Cashmere’s understanding. She didn’t bother to ask Annie’s reasons and instead shrugged her shoulders in reply. “I’ve been… preoccupied,” she answered, giving a short laugh. “And not even with my tributes. They’re oddly hassle free this year.” Really he biggest concern was Snow, as it always was, and what kind of man she’d make her be with next. Would he be worse than the last? Would she have to kill him too? She would if it came to that, because wasn’t she a more valuable asset than some dime-a-dozen Capitol man? Cashmere didn’t want to imagine she might be replaceable, so she deftly put the thought of her head.

“What about you?” Cashmere asked Annie. “Are you and Finnick doing alright?” She furrowed her brow as she thought of the other D4 mentor, a man in rather the same situation as her. Cashmere had no room for pity when she was all full up with it for herself, but she still worried sometimes.

Finnick and Annie were close, possibly closer than was healthy with them being victors, constantly under supervision from their escorts and the cameras and all manner of people who could cut them down in one fell swoop. Still, she did envy the two of them for having each other.

(Source: -cashmere)

(Source: areyoufeelingme, via joylenz)

AHGJDHS! THAT GIF TOTALLY GAVE ME THE CREEPS! And Gabbie darlin’, you’re gorgeous! < 3

i do have the weirdest collection of gifs but jack nicholson is flawless. and i may go rewatch the shining now.

You shush your face! Gabbie no equals hot or perfect or beautiful. THERE IS NOTHING TO ACCEPT. Omg that gif tho. CREEPY.

you’re so cute when you’re in denial.

^ Second that!

NO. TO BOTH OF YOU. NO JO! NO EVIE! Just.. NO.

shush your face. YOU ARE PERFECT AND BEAUTIFUL AND YOU NEED TO ACCEPT IT.

(via joylenz)